Mystery calls test prez match-ups

John Thune’s not paying for them. Neither is Rick Perry or Mike Huckabee.

But someone — a mysterious firm called only “Political Research” — is making automated phone calls from a D.C. number to voters in at least one swing state, asking them if they’d vote for President Obama or a Republican challenger.

Story Continued Below

“Who would you vote for, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Barack Obama?” the call asked one POLITICO reporter who received the call on a cell phone with a Pennsylvania area code.

Also on the list of questions: “Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of the tea party movement?”

The calls are so incessant that recipients have generated long lists of complaints online — and their accounts show calls from the same number asking the same questions about Thune, Huckabee, and Christie.

The caller ID, according to several separate complaints online: AIC2011DATA or “America in Crisis.”